Feeling invisible, I guess I wanted to grab his attention for a minute of human interaction. I replied loudly...too loudly...and as the words came flying out of my mouth I even surprised myself with the volume "Thank you! Yes just these two teas!"
He of course looked up at me...how could he not? I handed him my money, smiled and left.
While George and I walked to the perfect spot to lay out our blanket and set up shop, I asked him if he as a man had noticed a shift in the way people interacted with him as he aged. Was this just a phenomenon that women experienced? Looking at human beings as a species, with their mating rituals of constant youthful flirtation, I totally understand the abnormally exuberant if not absurd attention I received when I was young.
I have heard over and over, and I do believe that we as aging women should embrace every single wrinkle because with those lines comes life's information embedded into a face and a body full of experience. So is it a social thing that I often feel invisible? Do other cultures respect and honor age more than we do?
Just food for thought! When I stopped pursuing my career as a ballet dancer at 19 and changed directions to focus on becoming a jazz singer I felt that music could be forever...unlike dance where my body would have real physical limitations at a certain point. Music was an ageless artistic expression that an aging body couldn't prevent me from continuing with full force.
Now that I'm older I see that this is sort of true and sort of not true.
Of course the music and the expression and the passions are there..more than ever but sometimes it feels like it's more difficult to be seen.
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